About

Morels Foray: the Morels Expansion

$62,523

pledged of $15,000 goal

1,388

backers

Thank you everyone! If you would like to reach us after the campaign has concluded, we are at twolanternsgames@gmail.com and twolanternsgames.com. Kaleen and I have taken distribution back into our own hands, so we'd be happy to respond to any inquiries regarding Morels, Morels Foray, or Agility, be it general questions or about bringing Two Lanterns games into your home or friendly local game store. Whether you are a Kickstarter backer or decide to pick up a copy after the official launch in November 2017, we wish you good health and happy foraging!

Thanks for checking out Morels Foray! If you're new to the game, we hope you dig it, and if you're already a fan of Morels, we hope you enjoy the new strategic and social dimensions of Foray (note: Foray does require the Morels base game).

+ Morels Foray expands Morels with cards featuring new characters, items, events, and weather that vary how you interact with the forest and with your opponent(s). In the graphic below, you can check out how the cards work as well as Vince Dorse's ever enchanting art. The creative process is ongoing with the aim to finish illustrations around May 10th (the 5th Anniversary of Morels). I always feel like a kid opening a brown paper package tied up with string when Vince sends over something new. It'll be exciting to share these art updates with you as we go.

+ Morels Foray enables you to play Morels with 2-4 players. Below you'll find turn examples demonstrating how each system is unique. 2 player remains at the 30 minute mark for gameplay, as does 3 player, with 4 players at 30-45 minutes. We design quick games and firmly believe in begging for a rematch rather than praying for an ending.

+ A limited number of handcrafted pieces are available! They include the original Morels sticks and pans as well as a carved mushroom and wooden tokens tailored to Foray, which are Kickstarter exclusive. There's a process graphic for each showing how I make them.

The summaries below should provide a good sense of how the new cards work. If you'd like to peruse the full (beta) rulebook, it is available on Board Game Geek.

The new Foray cards can also be used with 3p and 4p. We've had a fantastic time with these, both the different tactical approaches and the enhanced social component. Lots of laughter, not originally a design goal but a wonderful bonus.

Against the better judgement of my primary care physician, I'm making more sticks and pans. I was touched with how the game community responded to these back in 2012 and couldn't resist making more for Morels players who have come on board along the way. There's something compelling to me about craftsmanship in board gaming, both the creation of the pieces and the resulting tactile element of play.

Of course we had to bring Foray into the handcrafted fun! Given the need for a Priority Marker in 4p and a 1st Player Marker in 3p, the notion of a "mushroom miniature" emerged. Enter the tagua nut! Sculpting it is like trying to mold Valyrian Steel that was tempered in Mt Doom then frozen in an icy chasm of the Frostfangs for 500 years, but boy do they turn out beautiful. 4p also uses "Player Ready" Markers, and getting some wood into the game was a must: laser engraved wooden nickels featuring the Fairy Ring, Shiitake, Porcini, and Destroying Angel. Kaleen asked me "Are you sure someone in any given group of 4 will want to be the Destroying Angel?" Which in my mind is somewhat akin to asking if people will be into a 1920's alternate history theme featuring heavily armed mechs, farming, and pet tigers. Yes, yes they will :)

Which bring us to Stretch Goals!

4/18 2:00PM CT: The mushroom meeples (I'm nominating "fungles"...suggestions?) WILL be the Compass dials used in 4p, so there will be 4x of those in the box in varying colors, plus one for the Priority Marker.

4/18 7:30PM CT: Blank designer cards! You can create new actions or mushrooms for your game and even share them with the community.

4/19 ~The Witching Hour CT: Golden mushroom! The Priority Player Marker will now be golden with a metallic sheen, continuing the pervasive theme of mushrooms as treasure throughout Morels Foray (see Thief and eventually Eureka). When foraging, that is exactly what it feels like, the lure of the hunt and the thrill of discovery. Sometimes when I find a flush I have to double or triple take...as if wait a minute, are these really here, no one's found these, they're mine, all mine? Sweet Sicilian saffron we're eating well tonight!

4/19 4:45PM CT Digital Designer Blanks: I'll send the psd (or format of your choice, but psd will be layered for easier use) blanks of the day card back/front and night card back/front to any KS backer who would like to have a go designing their own expansion mushrooms, items, characters, etc digitally (Photoshop being the most common). The physical cards will work great, but if you want to go all out with unlimited options and a professional look, this option enables it. Heck, put yourself into the game!

4/20 2:00PM CT Mushroom Paper Score Sheet: Kaleen and I based this idea on our friends Aubrey and Ryan, who created a "Brag Board" to track their 2p gaming. Turns out one thought they won more, the other thought the same, so they met at High Noon on the Brag Board. Kaleen will be making these, incorporating mushrooms into the paper somehow (pulp or spore print or mushroom ink; not sure quite yet...she'll start working on these over the summer), 1 sheet per backer.

4/22 5:00PM CT Morchella descends upon us!!! Vince and I did some juggling. I'm going to take the Map card, which I'm pumped about, and he agreed to do the dragon. Map will be done on ink and parchment in style of LOTR maps, dragon will be a clear homage to Smaug, so it's a double-Tolkien day! These games would likely not exist without his influence, both for hobbit love of mushrooms and for the sense of quest and completion those books instilled to my vision on one side and work ethic on the other.

4/26 2:00AM CT Travel/Bits Bag! Kaleen will have her work cut out for her. They will be simple but useful, likely muslin or cotton cloth, with a drawstring, stamped with a couple of morels. It's intent is to hold the cards plus any tokens or bits for ease of storage (probably bits only) or travel (cards + bits).

5/8 5:00PM CT Solo variant upgrade! BGG's GameRulesforOne created a sweet solo variant for the original Morels. He's graciously picked up the gauntlet to Foray with the solo ruleset. We've had fun collaborating on playtesting and rule modification over the last month. With the unlocked stretch goal, we will continue working to optimize Morels + Foray soloplay and I will be creating a downloadable rulebook in the same style as the print rulebook, complete with extensive graphic examples. When complete, it will be available as a downloadable PDF on the Two Lanterns website as well as on the Morels Foray "files" page at Board Game Geek.

5/9 2:00 AM CT A Solo Tournament (Global) will be held in Spring, 2018! This will be a one week tournament where any KS backer can participate and post scores on BGG (or email them to me and I'll post if you don't have a BGG account). Format is similar to some track meet events, with three attempts for a top score across three different game setups (thus, 9 maximum plays). Rules will be released shortly before the tournament. A minibadge will be made available to all participants and prizes (small but fun) will be awarded to the victors.

If you do decide to support Morels Foray, we wanted to make everything from our catalog available to customize the order to your taste. Agility is here, which I'm delighted to report was nominated for the 2016 Best 2-Player Golden Geek just like its big brother, as well as additional copies of Morels and Morels Foray for friends or family.

We've made a habit of printing up amusing t-shirts to complement our games. I love wearing these and seeing the reactions from mushroom, dog, or game lovers when their eyes light up.

There is a set of 6 pans in the event you have the original Morels Handcrafted Pieces (16 sticks and 2 pans) but would like additional pans to equip all of the 2-4 players in Morels Foray with two HC starting pans rather than using punchboard tokens.

Given the early sellout of the Morels Foray Handcrafted Pieces (mushroom mini and 4 wooden tokens), we've made the wooden tokens from that set available also. Won't be able to make any more mushroom minis than those already promised to the pledges, but happy to offer this piece of that pie should it interest.

If picking up any add-ons, simply increase your pledge by that amount (shirts, pan extension, and wooden tokens ship free internationally with package; please add $5 shipping per international game to the add-on amount). On the Kickstarter survey at the end of the campaign, you'll be able to note which item(s) you would like and they will ship free with your package in the US or $5 per game internationally .

New to Morels? Check out one of the video reviews that posted following the game's debut at 2012 Origins, Gen-Con, or BGG.con!

Joel Eddy's thoughts over at Drive-Thru Review:

Vintage Rahdo (only his 19th review) from the glass-table era! Makes for a trippy floating forest. Church bells in background are a nice Easter Egg (Rahdo, aka Richard Ham, lives in Malta, where apparently churches outnumber homes like sheep to people in New Zealand from the sound of this video). This is a full game run-through:

Retail options are available! There are three different bundles to choose from (brick and mortar sales only, please):

5x Morels + 5x Morels Foray

10x Morels Foray

10x Morels + 10x Morels Foray

Carton size is 20, hence the 5x and 10x case quantities. If interested, please send me a message and I will quote prices. Shipping free in the US for all three options. We love partnering with FLGSs!

Shipping is free to the US and subsidized to the rest of the world. We would love to have offered zone specific friendly shipping, but with the added complication of handcrafted pieces and differing sources for those vs the game, it just wasn't feasible. Please note that we are not able to sell the Morels base game to Europe, South America, or China due to licensing agreements.

Q1: If I'm pledging at a level that includes Morels Handcrafted pieces, do I need the $5 add-on for the extra 6 pans?

A1: You don't! All of these Morels HC sets come with 16 sticks and 8 pans, enough to support 2-4p Morels Foray. The add-on would just be for folks who acquired Morels HC bits back in 2012-13, which came with 2 pans. The 6 pans in the add-on would bring their total up to 8.

Q2: Is Morels Foray compatible with "Fungi"?

A2: It isn't. We're working with Pegasus Spiele in hopes that the expansion may be ported over to the European cousin of Morels. We'll share any news as it develops.

Risks and challenges

As long as everyone stays healthy, ships float, and machinery whirrs, we don't anticipate standard challenges beyond those that we have already embraced with Morels and Agility. One unique challenge will be keeping my hands in tact and unkindled while sawing, sanding, and polishing the custom pieces! Many enjoyable hours of work, much of that time with my fingers about 6 mm from a band-saw or rotary-saw blade at several thousand RPM. So far, so good!